HomeArticlesExamining The Genre Of The Rush Hour English Literature Essay

Examining The Genre Of The Rush Hour English Literature Essay

Rush Hour acknowledges that within pigeonholing, there is an constituted power hierarchy. In most buddy-cop movies, there is ever person in control and person who is merely the follower. As Leilani Nishime – Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications at the University of Washington who specializes in multiracial and interracial surveies, Asiatic American media representations, and Asiatic American bomber cultural production – observes, the white male character embodies an “ ideological chaperone ” who ensures that his buddy, normally a black male, behaves and complies to white criterions ( Nishime 49 ) . In Rush Hour, this “ protective detention ” plotline is modified to do Lee make full the black-buddy function, while Carter is the “ chaperone ” . The multiple scenes of Lee endeavoring to get away Carter ‘s detention and eventually making the Hong Kong embassy, expose how Carter is non an “ ideological chaperone ” ( Nishime 49 ) . Because they are minorities, it is perceived that they are peers and therefore have the possibility of adhering over inequalities caused by the racial hierarchy. However, like Nishime argues, neither assumes the functions, which points to “ the potentially riotous nature of black/Asian coupling ” ( Nishime 50 ) . The coupling of an Asiatic with a black adult male reflects the old Hong Kong kung fu movies. Though Nishime points to the bond that develops between Lee and Carter from their exclusion from the probe as an FBI agent claims that they do non necessitate any aid from a low-status investigator or a “ Chung King bull, ” Shen-mei Ma, in his “ xanthous Kung Fu and Black Jokes ” article, emphasizes that this connection is strictly for box office net income. The films are able to pull a broader scope of audiences by including two minorities who are non portrayed as scoundrels but instead the heroes.

Race appears to hold distinguishable boundaries in that certain cultural signifiers predominate over others. Rush Hour eliminates the white male character and efforts to convey about a convergence of civilizations to make a cross-racial individuality. In Rush Hour, Lee begins singing the vocal “ War, ” and Carter immediately interrupts to learn Lee to breathe a “ psyche. ” A defeated Carter exclaims that “ No 1 understands the words coming out of your oral cavity! ” Lee, in response, begins doing karate moves, which Carter tries to copy. This exchange of civilizations transcends the distinguished stereotypes of the abilities of “ African Americans [ to ] dance and sing and Asians [ to ] make kung fu ” ( Nishime 53 ) . Nishime, for illustration, argues that the cultural exchange is through the organic structure, which bypasses linguistic communication so the connexion becomes equal. The scene begins as an effort to build a peculiar cultural individuality but develops into the possibility of the creative activity of “ intercrossed individualities ” ( Nishime 48 ) . Carter justifies Lee ‘s mediocre vocalizing to an absence of “ psyche, ” which implies that that it is unconditioned for Lee to sing ill. Rush Hour 2 besides includes a scene where a Chinese adult male is singing karaoke to a Michael Jackson vocal but Carter complains that he is “ destroying a authoritative ” and leaps on phase to make his ain rendering, complete with dance moves. Lee and Carter can portion their civilization but each can non hone the other ‘s accomplishment therefore the movies naturalize differences. This mistakes [ fuzzs what is civilization and what is biological ] what is cultural with what is biological.

[ relate to film, in the movie ] Culture can be exchanged but the boundaries of a state can non be easy permeated by an “ foreigner ” . These markers of a state besides include linguistic communication. From the minute Lee lands in the United States, Carter assumes he does non talk any English: “ Mr. Rice-a-Roni do n’t even talk American ” . This scene can besides be identified as a lampoon of stereotypes since Lee does understand and talk English but he may non understand the colloquialism that Carter employs in which he normally slurs his words. Carter, likewise, leaps to the decision that Lee, as an Asiatic adult male, can non talk proper English. Both are leting the other ‘s stereotyped feature to play out.

[ in distinguishing racial boundaries, it racializes infinite ] [ racialized infinite defines what can be a gag and what is an abuse ] The movies differentiate racial boundaries, therefore making a racialization of infinite. In a saloon that is populated with inkinesss, Lee attempts to absorb into the environment by stating “ What ‘s up, my nigger? ” which Carter antecedently used as a salutation. Chaos erupts which proves that racial examination can use when minorities say racial names towards other minorities. A parallel state of affairs occurs at the Chinese eating house in Chinatown. There Carter attempts to speak his manner out of a job with the Chinese pack members by jestingly stating that he is “ Blackanese ” and that they are “ all the same. ” This remark of how everyone is “ all the same ” may germinate into credence of racial differences but these efforts lead to force. For the audience, these scenes are merely amusing and have the ability to drive the secret plan frontward since Tucker ‘s over the top playing leads the squad to another battle scene where Chan is able to show his complexly choreographed soldierly humanistic disciplines moves. This implies that there is no opportunity of racial bonding if every effort leads to misinterpretations. Ji Hoon Park – Assistant Professor in Communication at Hope College who specializes in Asiatic stereotypes in the media – augments this statement by observing that the race of the individual stating the gag determines whether or non the gag is deemed as racialist. [ follow my leads: Markss whose district they are on ]

Stereotypes are embedded into the state of affairss and duologue and are a important constituent to keeping racial societal order. Lee is viewed as a puritan who is really serious and wants to maintain the state of affairs under control and work out whatever jobs that arise. Carter, in contrast, has the inclination of happening and doing problem, which makes this “ uneven twosome ” more entertaining ( Ma 243 ) . Carter depicts the usual over sexualized black male. In Rush Hour 2, he invites two Chinese misss to hold sushi with him. Subsequently, Lee takes him to a massage parlour and while Lee chooses one miss, Carter chooses five. Carter repeatedly encourages the negative stereotypes associated with inkinesss with his “ loud-mouthed manner ” of nearing a job ( Park 163 ) .

[ talk about neg 1s and cases of upside-down but finally still a stereotype with neg effects ]

He tells a Chinese adult female who sells poulet that he likes his lily-livered “ dead and deep fried, ” insinuating that black work forces inherently like fried poulet. [ explain/ how it ‘s an inversion/not effectual plenty to interrupt sterotypes ] [ finally neg ] Blatant stereotypes are so deemed acceptable because comedy creates a sense of “ harmlessness [ to ] interpersonal gags ” ( Park 160 ) . The racial stereotypes are non ever inverted. Both Carter and Lee say racial comments toward each other such as Lee belonging in the Ming Dynasty and in choler, Lee says that he will “ bitchslap [ Carter ] back to Africa ” . Yet, neither look offended and are friends who enjoy each other ‘s company. This crossing of colour lines with racial gags leads to an reading of race-based wit being acceptable. The last stereotype mentioned is the “ rich white adult male ” . In Rush Hour, a white male does literally try to prehend Chinese civilization for Juntao, who turns out to be the British embassador, enterprises to steal Chinese artefacts. In Rush Hour 2, Carter voices his theory of probe which is to follow the “ rich white adult male ” because behind any operation, “ there ‘s a rich white adult male waiting for his cut ” . The white adult male Carter refers to is, Steven Reign, a billionaire hotel proprietor. He does busy a little function in the movie but his function has some significance because he has an “ overseeing place ” of money laundering ( Park 164 ) . Similarly, in Rush Hour, the FBI, “ an about wholly white operation, ” take full duty of the snatch instance, bring forthing no alteration to the position quo of white domination and white privilege. Park ‘s treatment of mainstream racial images closely parallels Nishime ‘s statement: Chan and Tucker play sympathetic characters that are “ symbolically castrated work forces ” and therefore do no challenge White maleness ( Park 163 ) . Soldierly humanistic disciplines are normally viewed as a really masculine act that involves empowerment and self-control but when assorted with comedy, Chan is an about “ buffoonish ” offense combatant ( Ma 242 ) . This [ restrained/ ] maleness from Lee and Carter ‘s high-pitched remarks fortifies the position quo. The white characters are farther confirmed as clear-minded persons who are able to carry through anything, even illegal activities.

Racial portraitures promote acceptableness and credibility of differences nevertheless they can be construed as instruments of interrupting racial myths. Carter ‘s black source owns a Chinese eating house in Crenshaw, a predominately black vicinity, dresses in traditional Chinese garments and is skilled in kung fu. This distinction from the audience ‘s preconceived impressions of a “ normal ” black adult male both challenge the viewing audiences ‘ impressions and portray the blending of two different civilizations. This reflects the beginning of the outgrowth between “ xanthous kung fu and black gags ” ( Ma 240 ) . In his survey of the history between the partnership between Asians and inkinesss, Ma utilizes the film, The Last Dragon, for the black character “ bows, meditates, and wears the stereotyped Chinese frock ” while the Asiatic Americans “ take on a black idiom and organic structure beat ” ( 240 ) . Rather than rendering “ xanthous yellower and black blacker, ” the exchange creates a likeliness of racial hybridity. [ reintroduce informant character, likewise ] However, Carter laughs at him and calls him an embarrassment for being a black adult male in Crenshaw who owns a Chinese eating house. In this manner, Carter is “ othering ” his source and anything that deviates from the norm is considered incorrect. This is an case when racial boundaries were transcended but it becomes noted that each race has an “ appropriate ” civilization it should claim.

Many people can claim to be colorblind or antiracist ; nevertheless race continues to function as an of import political orientation with which understand their societal environment. The Rush Hour movies do supply for an chance to look beyond the dominant political orientations of Whites, Asians, and inkinesss. However, Rush Hour is non wholly successful in conveying about stairss toward dismissing racial features. By including stereotypes, the audience finds the movies humourous but they besides search for the ‘true ‘ constituents of racial stereotypes instead than disputing the overdone word pictures. Therefore, by using comedy, the movies ‘ extremist qualities of perchance exceeding racial boundaries are unfulfilled for one time racial differences are naturalized as existent and unchangeable, it creates a justification for maintain the long-standing racial hierarchy.